If they can stay as a federal employee, doesn’t their retirement keep accruing?
Nope! Totally separate from snivel (civil) service.
I really don’t know. The fed has been playing with retirement regs to the point I’ve lost track. I suspect it does.
Yes if they can find a position open for them.
I don’t remember the accrument figures, but there is some consideration in Federal Service for Military time. It’s not one for one. They used to allow a portion of Military time to be tacked onto the maximum hiring age. For example, if the maximum hiring age was 35, Military time would raise that to say, 40-45. Retirements are seperate. Unless you have twenty good years, you have nothing but points that can be continued in the Guard or Reserve. Someone with 10-12 years active, then joins the Guard or Reserve for enough to get twenty, will see a very decent additional retirement at age 65. These are some the infamous Federal double dippers which, I have no problem with.
They count civil service with military as years of total service but it doesn’t count against retirement. I had 12 years of federal service, eight of them military. I did receive a 10-year certificate for total federal service, but when I left, I had accumulated four years of civil service.